THEATRE REVIEW

Sadly not a patch on the impressive Kevin Elyot/Steven Pimlott 2006 West End revival starring Tara Fitzgerald, Richard Johnston and Gemma Jones, this was still a worthy if paler production from director Joe Harmston and the cast.

Not as tense and frightening as it could be, the large audience was still kept guessing, as the 10 strangers gathered on the remote Soldier Island at the invitation of the mysterious Mr and Mrs U N Owen and were despatched one by one in line with the macabre rhyme displayed above the fireplace.

Based on the Queen of Crime's novel, which has suffered several PC changes of title over the years, this gripping story is as much about the dispensation of justice as it is about whodunit.

I wanted more to be made of the deaths than being told about half of them while characters looked offstage (at the Gielgud two years ago the front row of the audience was in danger of being covered by stray Kensington Gore), but then again, having just been at a murder weekend in which victims were found stabbed with blood ebbing from their wounds, perhaps I was expecting too much!

The cast ranged from the chilling and captivating to the weak, which meant a lack of balance, but then you do realise everyone is going to get their come-uppance eventually so you can secretly delight in waiting for the worst offenders to be bumped off.

Especially strong were Gerald Harper as the sadistic and sinister Justice Wargrave, the ever-excellent Alex Ferns as soldier of fortune Captain Lombard, Mark Wynter giving depth to Dr Armstrong, Bruce Montague (who plays the title role in the venue's Christmas production, The Wizard of Oz this year) as the proud and lonely General Mackenzie, and Bob Saul as the young, amoral and vain Anthony Marston.

Also among the company were Ray Lonnen as private investigator Blore, Jennifer Wilson as the elderly spinster and religious zealot Miss Brent, and Georgina Bouzova finding insufficient torment as former governess Vera Claythorne.

It is always worth seeing this ingenious story and welcome to find the original novel's ending rather than the upbeat one substituted by Miss Christie herself, yet this production was satisfactory rather than suspenseful.